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Topic: WW&F No. 9 - Official Work Thread (Read 279849 times)

Work on #9 has gone pretty slow since last spring, what with all the outdoor activity during the warm season and the need to run steam every weekend. The pace should pick up now that we are back inside for the winter.

My understanding is that the boiler is about ready for tubes over at Boothbay Railway. In the shop at Sheepscot the major frame break around the left front driver pedestal has been repaired, and the frame around the slots for the spring hangers have been reinforced. The new rear frame side assemblies have been riveted together. The piece that will tie the front and rear frame together has been cast (successfully, this was the second try) and awaits machining. Repair has begun on the right front frame in front of the driving box pedestal where the piece that goes under the cylinder casting bolts to the main frame had been 'working' and loosened up. This will also get a new, longer binder to better reinforce this joint. The pivot castings for the equalizer bar and brake rigging are in the process of being bored for bushings.

Major overhaul of the cylinders has not started, as they will need boring and the left side will get a sleeve. The rest of the running gear will also get an overhaul as needed.

I would expect that much of the work on the frame will be done this winter, and a lot of smaller stuff will get some attention. The third Saturday of the month has traditionally been #9 day.

If you search back through the forum topics you should find some pictures and descriptions of a lot of this work. Our goal is to have as much of the original machine as possible while having a reliable locomotive that will pass any anticipated future regulatory requirements.

Restoration is a slow, tricky business. It doesn't happen ovenight. A team of people don't descend upon a historical object and have it restored in a week in front of TV crews and wild crowds chanting "Move that caboose!"

For example, when I was last at Sheepscot, Jason pointed out a pile of parts - some small, some much larger that all needed to be cleaned. Cleaning involves using oil or another solvent along with a wire brush and determination to wipe off 100 years worth of crud. Between myself, my daughter and my niece, we cleaned a total of 5 parts in the hour or two we were at it. Dozens more parts are left - and those are just the ones that need cleaning. Many more need to be rebuilt or reconditioned.

It's been a while since the work on #9 has been reported on here, so I'll start by a brief description of last Saturday's (Feb. 21) work:Boothbay is getting to 'crunch' time on the boiler, and remaining work involves finishing pieces for the throttle assembly so it can be assembled into the steam dome along with the dry pipe. A new throttle body and valve spindle has been cast and machined. It is a copy of the original but cast with 'code-worthy' materials. Several other pieces are needed, the biggest of which is the piece which makes the right angle turn from the dry pipe up into the throttle. This 'elbow' has a number of assembly and safety requirements, so is being machined out of a roughly 6 inch diameter solid chunk of steel. Assembling all this stuff in the dome is complicated by the inability to get underneath the throttle, so everything has to be done from the top, including making the steam-tight joint to the dry pipe in a way that satisfies 'what-if' fail-safe concerns. The large lathe can handle the turning and boring of this piece. Fortunately, the lathe was moved early in the morning into it's new place in the shop extension and wired up so that that piece could get started.Other parts include the bell crank which turns the corner for the throttle rod and pushes up on the throttle valve spindle to open it. This part also has to be made from traceable material, and so of a piece of the remaining steel from the dome flange is being used. This was torch cut to rough shape (basically an 'L') and then machined to required thickness and shape. Also needed is the stem which reaches up through the valve spindle from the bell crank. Again, a large piece of the correct material is being 'whittled' away to create this part.We have the original Portland Co. drawings for these parts, so as much as possible they will be duplicates of originals.Unusual and notable was that 3 machinists were simultaneously working away at 2 lathes and a milling machine. I believe that some pictures were taken, and Jason Lamontagne may want to add a comment about the progress on the boiler at Boothbay shops.

The picture of the big lathe shows exceptional care in choice of shutter speed - the faceplate is moving, but Jason is not. Usually, achieving a stationary Jason requires a shutter speed of at least 1/100th of a second, a speed that might stop the faceplate.

The boiler is nearing completion at Boothbay. The tubes are in, all rolled and nearly all beaded. We still need to weld on studs for miscellaneous attachments, install the throttle and associated parts, and install plumbing. We fully expect to be done within a month- save for some plumbing components which are on order and are further out than that.

We look forward to having the boiler in Sheepscot this summer as an incentive to make some headway on the rest of the project.

The frame work right now is held up by the need to machine the frame casting. This piece is large and awkward; for some time we considered hiring it out or asking for a shop to donate the machining of it. In the end- we don't want to do either as we want to ensure that it will fit properly- doing it ourself will allow ready measurement of the existing frame that it must fit, and that the design intentions are properly carried out.

Sooo- I'm now geared up to tackle this project. It will take 6 set ups on our Cincinnati mill- as the mill is 2" shy of having enough lateral travel to do the job in 3 set ups. We've held off due to a number of jobs that have required the vise on the mill- including the railcar bearing blocks, some No 9 dry pipe components and other.

The goal is to finish machining the frame casting- and then resume with the No 9 work days in earnest. The first work that can be done will be the assembly of the frame as a whole. We'll then focus on cylinder boring and sleeving, after which we'll be on to bearings and wheels. That should all be doable this year.

What will the hole that he is drilling in the mud-ring be for? Drain/flush cocks? Or a rivet/bolt? Also, is there a reason why only the crown sheet has threaded staybolts on the top of the fiebox? I guess it is just how that area was built.

I'm really impressed! It truly looks like it could have come off the Portland Company's shop floor. Wow! For many locomotives the effort and attention to period detail and practices would have been overkill. But for a locomotive with the pedigree of #9, its totally appropriate.